I’m a pianist, composer, and musicologist from northern California. My music generally incorporates intricate rhythmic activity, improvisation, and musical narrative. As a pianist and composer, I’ve released several recordings, such as albums with the Sibarg Ensemble, a group that uniquely blends traditional Iranian music and jazz, as well as my experimental jazz trio, Chaos Magic. I’ve also composed works for theater, including a one-act opera, Bula Matari: Breaker of Rocks, which premiered in San Diego in 2018.
I received my PhD in music from UC San Diego with a dual degree in composition and musicology. My dissertation was on the Shiraz Arts Festival, an annual international festival held in Iran between 1967 and 1977. This research details the festival performances as cultural models for democracy and identity in pre-Revolutionary Iran. A portion of this is published in the collection Performing Iran: Culture, Performance, Theatre (2021). I am also the co-founder and editor of First : Listen, an open-access web journal concerned with current and emerging discussions about music, sonic art, and creative practices concerned with sound.